This was the moment a miraculous double rainbow appeared over an Ipswich school.

The amazing spectacle was seen by students and parents who had just taken refuge from a deluge during a hockey match on the school fields.

One parent, Fiona Ford, spotted the natural phenomena and was quick to whip out her smartphone.

She said: “I was watching my daughter and her team play hockey against Littlegarth School when the heavens opened.

“After making a mad dash for the dugouts beside the pitch with some other parents, we looked up to see a beautiful double rainbow over the school.

“I took a snap with my iPhone - I didn’t realise it would come out so well.”

Rainbows only happen under certain special conditions: the sun needs to be behind the viewer, the water source needs to be in front and the sun needs to be low in the sky.

Usually, light hits a rain droplet and the light reflects once as it leaves, creating a rainbow for the observer - but at the correct angle it will reflect twice and viewers will see two patterns in the sky.

Second rainbows, like the one pictured, are larger and fainter, but also appear with the colours reversed.